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Text Chapter 56 Declaration of War (Part 2)

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    "Don't worry, General, that devil is no match for us at all." Captain Leonardo replied confidently.

    For several years, China has been trying to buy warships from the Dutch and Spanish. It is said that many merchant ships that were hijacked by British pirates were also bought by Duke Deng. This of course aroused the vigilance of Manila.  Although the Duke repeatedly declared friendship and repeatedly stated that he purchased warships solely to compete with the Qing court for control of China's offshore waters, Manila was not fooled by the smoke.  The navy of the Qing court could not even defeat ordinary merchant ships. The Spaniards did not believe that battleships were necessary to deal with the Qing court.  It is estimated that after the Duke bought those merchant ships, a little arming would be enough, so no matter what the price the Duke offered, Manila would not sell a single battleship to him.

    Perhaps because of the distance, Batavia sold two twenty-gun battleships to the Duke. According to information from Manila, these should be the largest ocean-going battleships in the hands of the Duke.  In addition, he could probably have a hundred armed merchant ships.  As for the imitation warships, Manila didn't take it seriously, because in just a few years, the Duke was unable to build a qualified large-scale ocean-going warship.

    There are thirty battleships in Manila's fleet, the smallest one is equivalent to the Duke's largest twenty-gun battleship, and there are ten battleships with more than forty guns. As for General Mario's flagship, it is a sixty-gun battleship.  In Europe, this ship may not be able to be incorporated into the battleship formation, but in East Asia it is undoubtedly a giant ship. Its opponent is the battleship of the same class in Batavia rather than the poor small boats and armed merchant ships of the Duke.  .

    There is one rule in naval warfare: the one with a stronger ship and better artillery wins.  Mario's flagship could tear any of the Duke's ships to pieces outside their range; the Duke's small battleships and armed merchant ships had neither enough armor nor caliber to match the Spanish.  With its naval guns, even if the Chinese army wanted to approach the Spanish fleet for a desperate fight or launch a boarding battle, it would not have enough speed.

    Although they are worried about the consequences of the war, no one in Manila doubts the victory of the naval battle. As long as it encounters the Chinese fleet, there will be a one-sided massacre.  The order of the Governor-General of Manila was to annihilate the Chinese at sea, kill and injure their army soldiers as much as possible, and not let go of any Chinese ship except the Duke's flagship.

    In order to achieve this goal, after rejecting the Duke's ultimatum, the Spanish Governor sent a small speedboat to quietly follow the Chinese envoy.  The huge Spanish fleet followed the clipper and asked the Chinese envoy to bring the entire Spanish fleet to the Duke.  In order to avoid being discovered by the cunning Chinese, not only the Spanish reconnaissance clipper disguised as a merchant ship was far away from the Chinese envoy leading the way, but even the main fleet was at the extreme distance from their clipper. Now there is only a lookout at the top of the mast.  Only then could the soldiers see the mast of the clipper ship.  Now the Spanish fleet is moving forward with only half sail. Only when the reconnaissance speedboat sends a flag and says that it sees the dense forest of Chinese fleet masts, they will attack at full speed.

    Seeing General Mario still staring motionless at the empty sea, Captain Leonardo persuaded him again: "General, go and rest for a while. We shouldn't encounter the Chinese fleet in two days."

    "We must capture that devil alive." Mario clenched his fists fiercely. He wished he could put the Duke in a cage and send him to Madrid for an exhibition, but he knew very well that this wish would not be realized.

    The Kingdom of Spain is already very weak and it is impossible to bring troops from South America or the mainland to Asia. Therefore, the war must rely on Manila's own strength, and the Duke is the only person who can end this war - Britain has declared war on the Netherlands, and the excuse is the Netherlands.  An oil painting insulted Britain, so the Netherlands must be destroyed to seek justice for Britain's dignity - these gangsters are as shameless as the Duke. This war has already involved France, Spain, Denmark and other countries.  In the short term, Manila must concentrate its efforts to ensure the security of its homeland and deter its evil neighbors who are eyeing them; in the ultimatum of the Chinese Parliament, they said that Britain is China's ally. Today, the Netherlands can insult China's allies with oil paintings, but tomorrow it can  They used oil paintings to insult China, so they had to declare war on the Netherlands to preemptively strike. A few years ago, China declared no war against Britain. When did China form an alliance with British gangsters again?  But they should indeed be allies. Such two groups of shameless gangsters are simply poured out of the same mold.

    "Don't worry, General, we will definitely find the Chinese."

    Although the Chinese envoy may have discovered the reconnaissance ship disguised as a merchant ship, it is impossible for the envoy not to report back to the Duke for a ship whose identity cannot be determined.  All Spanish officers were convinced of this.  Their belief is that the Chinese fleet must not be allowed to sail around Manila, and the powerful enemy must be annihilated at sea. This is the only chance for the Spanish to defeat the powerful enemy.

     ¡­

    At the same time, the man whom the Spaniards called the Devil was chatting with his generals.

    When the ultimatum messenger was sent to Manila, the Chinese expeditionary fleet was already anchored in the northern Philippines. However, landing here was not feasible because the distance to Manila from here was too long.  The rugged rainforest trails on land will cause the expeditionary force to lose a large number of officers and soldiers and most of its combat effectiveness.  For Deng Ming, the best strategy was to directly send 50,000 expeditionary troops to land under the city of Manila.

    "Fighting in Nanyang is different from fighting on both sides of the Yangtze River. Sea control here is everything." Deng Ming once again emphasized to the imperial generals who embarked on their first overseas expedition that controlling the water surface of the Yangtze River could bring mobility advantages to the Ming army, but in the Philippines  The advantage was magnified more than ten times: "If the naval battle fails, even if our huge army can land safely, it will be nothing more than a group of savages struggling for survival; and if the Spaniards lose their fleet, then they will be scattered among themselves.  The lone armies of different genus can only watch us take down their strongholds one by one. We don't even need to surround their fortresses, they will have to surrender to us because they will be cut off from food and grass."

    The disadvantages of the Imperial Navy are obvious. In recent years, despite Deng Ming's good words, the Spanish and Dutch have refused to sell large warships to him. In addition to these equipment deficiencies, the training of personnel is also a problem. The Empire  The navy has no rivals in China's coastal waters, but even if the equipment is the same, if they line up to fight the Spaniards on the sea, the fleet may not be a match.  However, if there was not such a huge power gap, the Spaniards would probably not tolerate the Chinese colonization group's reclamation in remote areas of the Philippines - if Manila believes that the Chinese fleet can threaten them, then trade profits and the provision of food alone cannot paralyze them.  of.

    "The only way to seize control of the sea is to destroy the Spanish fleet in a naval battle and make our army the master of this sea area." Deng Ming brought more than 400 ships this time, including 220  The merchant ships have all been modified (some of them were purchased or imitated, and Spain and the Netherlands have no intention of prohibiting the sale of merchant ships), with an average of ten cannons installed on each ship.  There are also a large number of slower ships, which are not even equipped and are just simple transport ships.

    Ordinarily, now is not a good time to launch a war against Spain and the Netherlands. At least until Chongming Shipyard can produce warships to fight against the giant Spanish and Dutch ships, China does not seem to be able to shake the enemy's sea control.  But Deng Ming could no longer afford to wait. The current Anglo-Dutch war had attracted the attention of the major European powers to their homeland. Besides, Deng Ming had reached a secret agreement with the United Kingdom. If he wanted to redivide the sphere of influence in Asia and cut off a  If there is a big piece of cake, Deng Ming needs to show great strength not only to his enemies, but also to his allies.  Besides, with the rapid rise of China's maritime power, the Spaniards and the Dutch are conducting more and more intelligence spying in Chongming and Zhoushan.  In order to paralyze them, Deng Ming also allowed them to visit China's shipyards at will, saying that China had nothing to hide from its friends.  If the Spanish and Dutch feel that China has the power to compete with them, they will probably change their attitude towards the Chinese colonization groups.

    Precisely because no one believed that Deng Ming dared to challenge the European sea control in Asia, now was a good time to launch a war, and it could also help the colonization group obtain better development space - there were already many armed farmers, and sea areas and cities could not be tolerated.  remained in Spanish hands.

    Deng Ming also has his own trump card. All Chinese artillery shells are equipped with the latest delay fuses.  This alchemy fuse uses the principle of acid corrosion. The fuse on the artillery shell will detonate the artillery shell within 30 seconds to 60 seconds after being triggered. This fuze technology will give the Chinese army's artillery shells greater lethality.  Only limited by the caliber of the guns, the Chinese warships still have to approach a very short distance before they can accurately hit the Spanish ships; if they want to cause huge damage to the Spanish giant ships, they need to  Rush to within 100 meters and shoot at the opponent's gun portholes. Otherwise, China's small guns will not be able to penetrate the hull armor of the Spanish giant ship.

    "Telegram!"

    A report came from outside the door.

    Deng Ming took it and looked at it.  The efficiency of the original infinite telegraph was extremely poor. Not only did communication take a long time, it also had very high requirements on the weather.

    At the end of the telegram, the messenger reported that a suspicious ship was following it. Deng Ming sneered when he saw this.  If there was no radio, the envoy would have to struggle between being unable to complete the task and ensuring the safety of the main force. However, now the envoy's ship does not have this pressure at all. It can lead the Spanish main fleet to continue to circle the sea, and then  They were brought to the Ming army's preset battlefield.

    ¡°The Spaniards have rejected the ultimatum of the Imperial Parliament!¡± Deng Ming announced to everyone. This was completely expected.?In the ultimatum, the Imperial Parliament asked Manila to release water passage rights on the pretext of war against the Netherlands; it also protested against Spain's unfair treatment of Chinese people and asked Manila to grant China consular jurisdiction; in addition to these two major items, there were many demands. If Manila  It would be strange to agree.

    All the generals present stood up and looked at Deng Ming solemnly.

    "According to the order of the Council, Huang Ming is in a state of war with the Kingdom of Spain." A soldier handed over the official document that had been prepared long ago. Deng Ming held it up and said loudly: "Order of the Council: Spain attacks its allies, massacres our expatriates, and is hostile to our country.  The imperial government deserves to be punished.¡±

    "As ordered!" the generals replied in unison.

    "From now on, you are free to attack the Spanish army. The property of the Kingdom of Spain and its supporters will be regarded as enemy property and will be confiscated." Deng Ming then issued further orders as commander: "Those who resist will be killed, and those who surrender will be spared death."  .¡±

    "Yes," the generals replied in unison again: "Prime Minister."
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